[wavehunter007]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

Using that URL, the December 21 Hartford numbers are 7:15 sunrise and 4:23 sunset. Since what I said was that CT December sunsets were around 4:30, I guess that's not a myth, right?

In contrast, San Antonio, TX for the same day has sunrise at 7:24 and sunset at 5:40. Atlanta has sunrise at 7:39 and sunset at 5:33, while Miami has sunrise at 7:03 and sunset at 5:35.

Everybody's priorities are different but an hour more sunlight at the end of the day is a big deal for me.

Then you missed my point:

People act as if locations like CT. NYC, NJ, Philly...etc have several hrs difference in daylight between them and locations in the lower southern USA from Carolina to CA. This includes places like Atlanta. You don't even get an hr more daylight in Hartford than in Atlanta on December 21st ....you get 49 minutes. For me near New Haven/NYC it's even less - like 44 minutes.

Miami is a different story - 90% of the USA is located above even northernmost Florida.

I hardly think 44 minutes amounts to much when one factors in weather, clouds, going coming from work or different days. I spent a winter in Savannah, and the daylight factor between that and New Haven made little difference. Florida, YES a different story, but again people in Florida are south of 95% of the USA.

Originally Posted by atler8

Wave
You have hit upon a factor that a lot of people do not know of or consider adequately when they think about the sunset or sunrise times or the length of daylight in the winter, or summer for that matter.
Yet, there is another big factor at play that makes a difference in the sunset & sunrise times for a given location. That factor is the setting of a place in terms of it's east to west location within a given time zone.
As an example, here in Atlanta we are basically 70 miles from our west border which is shared with Alabama. At that border, the Eastern Time Zones ends & the Central Time Zone begins. As a result, at the time of the winter solstice, we in Atlanta have our earliest sunset at around 5:27 pm. A short distance from us, say about 100 to the west, sits Anniston, Al. At that solstice, their earliest sunset in their extreme eastern setting in the Central Time Zone is approximately at 4:30 p.m. Anniston however would have a much earlier time of sunrise than us because it is so far to the east in their time zone.

So, not only does the north to south location of a place impact it's times for sunset & sunrise as you noted, but also the east to west setting within a time zone impacts those times considerably even though the actual day light length of two given places may be similar.

Hence the relatively eastern location of Connecticut within the Eastern Time Zone is a major factor as to when sunset occurs in that state.

Agree 100%.

One's "position" in a time zone is just as important as their latitude. Of course as you said you either loose/gain in on the front side or back side.

For me the eastern location of places like CT, NC, or Florida seem to work the best. I'm much more a morning person and like the sun on me as early as possible - lol.

[atler8]

LOL! I understand that last line there completely Wave. Even though I prefer to have the later sun set & thereby sacrifice the hour of light lost in the morning due to our location in the time zone, it's still not easy for me to stumble out of the door & down the porch steps (I don't want to leave the porch light on all day long) in the total darkness.
Unlike you, I'm not a morning person so I shut my eyes & try to doze on the express bus ride into the city & then focus on my cup of wakeup coffee that I fix at the office. Strong cofee, I might add..
By the way, it looks as though your Connecticut weather thread here on the forum is worthy of further investigation. I enjoy weather as a topic & for just plain old observation. It doesn't matter to me if the thread is for a place 800 miles distant.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by wavehunter007

Then you missed my point:

No, I got it. I just have a different view. I don't care much about when sunrise happens because I am not a morning person. What I care about is how late in the day it's still light.

[htfdcolt]

I spent 12 days in Helsinki last December 2012. Sunrise at 9 am, sunset at 3:50 pm. And a nicely hardened crust of snow covering everything!

[FionaMarlowe]

I guess it's all relative - we just moved here a few months ago from a small town just north of Chicago, and we are AMAZED at how warm it still is here (Madison) in mid-October - the leaves are still green, I've yet to feel cold enough to wear socks or a coat, and the breezes along the ocean aren't even cold.

In that part of the Midwest, especially along the lake (which I do love - when it's not frozen solid), it's pretty much constant "lake effect snow" (read: giant dumps of snow frequently throughout the winter - the kind of footage that you literally have to "dig out" from under and that sometimes blocks you into your house, depending on which way the wind is blowing against your front door) until March. Sometimes the snow continues into spring. Last year it snowed in early May.

And most of the people we know back there have already dug out the mittens, gloves, scarves, wool hats, etc. - frost is expected this time of year, with snow not far behind.

Connecticut's weather is a much more temperate blend of all four seasons, as far as we're concerned

[chris410]

Originally Posted by FionaMarlowe

I guess it's all relative - we just moved here a few months ago from a small town just north of Chicago, and we are AMAZED at how warm it still is here (Madison) in mid-October - the leaves are still green, I've yet to feel cold enough to wear socks or a coat, and the breezes along the ocean aren't even cold.

In that part of the Midwest, especially along the lake (which I do love - when it's not frozen solid), it's pretty much constant "lake effect snow" (read: giant dumps of snow frequently throughout the winter - the kind of footage that you literally have to "dig out" from under and that sometimes blocks you into your house, depending on which way the wind is blowing against your front door) until March. Sometimes the snow continues into spring. Last year it snowed in early May.

And most of the people we know back there have already dug out the mittens, gloves, scarves, wool hats, etc. - frost is expected this time of year, with snow not far behind.

Connecticut's weather is a much more temperate blend of all four seasons, as far as we're concerned

I hate to break it to you but the past few weeks have been unseasonably warm... One thing about new england weather is averages dont mean a damn thing..

[Pincho-toot]

Originally Posted by Dallascaper

I dislike the cold, but it's the short daylight that bothers me. The date the sun starts setting later in the afternoon (around Dec 10 or so) the winter is already looking up - and it's not even winter yet!

...and 6 months of bare trees is a bummer.

I'll take 6 months of bare trees over 12 months of the same mundane greenery.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by BadgerFilms

I'll take 6 months of bare trees over 12 months of the same mundane greenery.

Mundane greenery beats shoveling snow by miles.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

Mundane greenery beats shoveling snow by miles.

I'll take 3 months a year of snow...over 12 months of green ..ANY DAY.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by jp03

I'll take 3 months a year of snow...over 12 months of green ..ANY DAY.

A man was tired of dealing with winter and wanted to move to a warmer climate. He planned to take a road trip to scout out potential locations. On the day he was going to start the trip, his neighbor observed him tying his snow shovel to the grill of his car. Puzzled, the neighbor asked him why he was doing that.

"I'm going to drive south and west until somebody says to me 'Hey, what's that thing on your car?'
Then I'll know that's where I can start looking for a place to live."